


Shadows in the Light

by class_3A



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Angst, Hallucinations, M/M, Post-Timeskip (Fire Emblem: Three Houses)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-30
Updated: 2019-08-30
Packaged: 2020-09-30 13:11:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20447669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/class_3A/pseuds/class_3A
Summary: Though light is said to illuminate and guide, Dimitri can't believe what he sees during that dawn. Getting exposed to such blinding brightness after having been engulfed in the dark for so long leaves plenty of room for illusions to toy with him, after all. And yet...( Their reunion, from a different perspective. )





	Shadows in the Light

**Author's Note:**

> it's been a long while since i last wrote, much less posted a fic but dimileth hit me hard enough to bring me back to this good ol' place. this one's a short reinterpretation of sorts in dimitri's pov meant to spice up a canon event with an extra sprinkle of angst. all the dialogue are actual lines from the game.

At first, there’s only light — a light that pierces through the uncleansable red.

It doesn’t take long for Dimitri to realize that the light is his dear Professor.

It’s blinding at first, to his eyes that have adjusted to the crimson of the hellscape he paved for himself.

The light reaches out towards the beast. His scorching fingers wrap around its neck, making it harder to breath.

When it blinks, his hand is still there, but nowhere near its neck. The sun shines a ray of warmth on it ever so patiently. It ungratefully turns away from it.

When the animal is back on its hind legs, the hand is gone. The pressure on its throat isn’t.

“I should have known… that one day… you,” he pushes down a sob that threatens to escape him, “would be haunting me as well.”

Unlike the other ghosts that torment him, Byleth’s form is far too vivid — far too similar to the past he buried away. Thankfully, the voices remind him that he’s in no place to be deriving any joy from the past.

“You… What must I do to be rid of you?” Dimitri chokes out, shoving down the overflowing memories that he doesn’t deserve to have.

Byleth stares at him, face as serene as ever.

...No, that’s a misjudgment. It’s hard to catch, but there’s a definite sense of sorrow in the slight curve of the professor’s brows and mouth.

But sorrow for what? Sorrow for  _ Dimitri _ , who’s failed to carry out his duty of vengeance still after all these years? Was it pity, then? No, even pity is undeserved.

Disappointment. It must be disappointment.

His gaze. It burns. It burns. It burns more than the hellfire that the monster has already thrown itself into.

In a pitiful attempt to endure the pain, it grits its teeth and bares its fangs at the unwavering sun.

“I will kill that woman. I swear it. Do not look upon me with scorn in your eyes!”

Dimitri desperately wants to crawl back to the floor and hide his miserable hunch beneath the shadows. The darkness is where corpses belong anyways.

But the luxury of peace is not one for him. He still must quench this burning with blood — blood of that wretched woman clad in red, who’s soon to become one with the color.

And even after all is done — even when he can be blinded by closing his eyes and deafened by covering his ears — he is still to burn forever for the blood on his hands, because no amount of blood could ever extinguish inferno.

_ Why aren’t you moving forward yet? _

_ Raise your lance again, Dimitri. _

_ I taught you better than to give up now. _

...Had the professor always been this talkative?

_ Is it because of that silly promise we made all those years ago? _

_ Did you really think that it could be kept? _

_ You knew better than that from the start. _

_ It doesn’t matter anymore, either way. _

_ All that matters is that  _ —  _ _

“— Everything will be okay,” a collected voice speaks — one identical to Professor’s — and momentarily silences the rest of the professors that whisper their bloodthirst to him.

“... You… It can’t be! You’re alive?!”

Despite his surprise, an inexplicable wave of trust washes over him during the split second that it takes for those words to register. It makes him not question the reality of the situation. It makes him want to believe… to let himself find some solace in that statement spoken with such confidence.

His resolve mustn’t be strong enough, if it is to waver from such a mundane thing. If that’s the case, then he simply must focus more on his duty ahead of him. He scoffs at his own moment of weakness.

“Hmph. If that is the case… That can only mean you are another Imperial spy. Did you come here to kill me? Answer the question.”

Even as he asks the question, he knows it's a ridiculous one. No one in the entirety of Fodlan could possibly dare to imitate the professor without being slain on the spot by Dimitri for even attempting to do so. No imposter could ever convincingly replicate Byleth — not when he possesses such radiance.

No one could say “Of course not” in response to that foolish interrogation with as much genuinity as Professor.

And yet, he doesn’t want to accept it.

Not when, despite knowing that this is the real Professor standing before him, Dimitri still sees a gentle smile on Byleth’s face — the same smile that had mesmerized him during their time at the academy. That smile that Byleth would never weaponize. The one that Byleth would never wear while holding the dagger that he gave to  _ her _ .

Not when he would have let the dagger slay him this instant, had it been real — because even if the professor had really been holding that weapon, he would have been glad to see it in the hands of someone he knew for sure would pave a way for himself with it.

Not when this ghost, long gone yet lugging around this heavy lump of flesh and calling it a body, has the audacity to ask accusatory questions like  _ Where have you been all this time? How could you have left me by myself when I needed you the most? _

_ I missed you. I missed you so much. _

_ But you’re too late. _

So instead, he pushes on, leaving silence to fill in the space for those unspeakable thoughts.


End file.
